Sniper Pilot ‘Endgame’ Picked Up By NBC Following Success Of ‘American Sniper’

Snipers are a hot topic in the news cycle with the success of American Sniper, and America might be seeing more of them on the small screen with the announcement that NBC has picked up the pilot for a series called Endgame.

The Hollywood Reporter wrote that, “The drama landed at NBC with a hefty pilot-production commitment.” The same article provided a brief summary of the sniper series as well.

“Endgame, from Sony Pictures Television where Davis Entertainment is under an overall deal, centers on a former sniper — how timely. While working as a security expert for the wealthy, he is wrongly accused of the slaying of his wife. A syndicate of powerful people offer him freedom in exchange for stopping high-stakes crimes as he looks to avenge his wife’s death and uncover the conspiracy among his mysterious employers.”

And it likely isn’t a coincidence that the Endgame protagonist is described as a former sniper. Deadline Hollywood followed the development of Endgame and noticed a recent change to its lead character.

“There appears to be a new twist in the logline for Endgame. In the original description of the project when it was sold to NBC in September, the lead was a former intelligence officer. That was a background the character had throughout the development process until he was listed today by NBC as a former sniper.”

The decision to make the lead character in Endgame a sniper might seem odd considering that reports from the Wrap and the Inquisitr show the entertainment and media industries aren’t happy about the box office success of American Sniper.

However, history shows these industries don’t have anything against snipers simply because they are snipers. Shooter, a movie originally released in 2007, never created the outrage in Hollywood or the media that American Sniper has. The reason for the different reactions to American Sniper and Shooter likely are because of the opposing narratives of the two films. The positive review of Shooter by Thomas de Zengotita at the Huffington Post provides a perfect example of how the themes and perspective of that movie are entirely different from those of American Sniper.

Interestingly enough, the premise of Endgame might bear some similarities to that of Shooter. In Shooter, the former sniper is framed for murder and must go on the run as he tries to clear his name.

Fans can tentatively expect to see Endgame and its sniper protagonist appear on the Peacock Network during the 2015-16 TV season.